CH 249

[Alert: Lohengrin’s opinion of you has reached Absolute Trust!]

[Alert: Lohengrin’s opinion of you has reached Favored!]

[Alert: The King of Elondel regards you as the Savior!]

Siegfried was taken aback by the absurd increase in Lohengrin’s affinity toward him.

‘H-Huh? Why does he like me so much?’ he wondered. It was truly a mystery.

They had just met, so why was he so amicable toward him? Siegfried could not help but be baffled after the elven king’s opinion of him rose to Absolute Trust and Favored after they exchanged greetings for the first time.

However, that wasn’t the only strange thing here.

‘I’m the savior? The savior of what?’ Siegfried was confused.

“You are truly an amazing human ruler,” Lohengrin said with a smile. The elven king seemed to be completely oblivious to Siegfried’s thoughts.

“Ah… N-Not at all…”

“I was truly pleased to see you work tirelessly to live in harmony with us elves. You are a stark contrast to most humans who only think of us elves as a sexual outlet or toy.”

Lohengrin was telling the truth. Humans only thought of elves as sex slaves or mystical creatures that could grant their wishes through their mysterious magic. Slave trading of elves was legal in most countries, as their corrupted nobles were the biggest customers.

“We are working hard to survive, so I strongly believe that it is wrong to discriminate against others based on their race. Besides, we can achieve much more if we work together, right?”

“Haha! This world would have been much more peaceful if all humans thought like you!”

“There are a lot of good humans, too,” Siegfried said.

‘I mean… there’s a ton of better people than me…’ he thought inside.

He knew very well that he was not the good person Lohengrin thought he was.

“Still, I thank you for looking favorably upon me, King Lohengrin. Anyway, the reason I have come to Elondel is—”

“I’m sure you have your reasons, and you don’t have to explain them to me.”

“Pardon me…?”

“We, the Elves of Elondel, look quite favorably upon you and the Proatine Kingdom. In lieu of that, you, King Siegfried, may enter our kingdom anytime you wish to, and I hope that you will visit us quite often.”

Was it because of the affinity?

Siegfried had obtained the right to enter Elondel without asking for permission despite being a human. This was a significant achievement in itself, as it was known that it was near impossible for humans to enter the Elven Kingdom.

“But are you not curious about the purpose of my visit, King Lohengrin?”

“Do I really have to be?”

“P-Pardon me…?”

“All right, I’ll listen to your reason since you seem to be dying to tell me.”

Theft is never good, try looking at bit.ly/3iBfjkV.

It was then…

‘Wait a minute… How come it sounds like he has no idea why I’m here…? I’m sure he should’ve heard about the ancient monster… No, even if he hadn’t, shouldn’t he still be curious?’ Siegfried was perplexed by the king’s calmness.

He could feel that something was amiss judging by how fast the affinity went up on top of the Elven King not being curious of the purpose of his visit.

“That’s… I have heard from credible sources that an ancient monster is lurking in your lands,” said Siegfried, revealing the purpose of his visit.

“Hmm? An ancient monster? Do you perhaps know that monster’s name by any chance?” Lohengrin asked.

“I believe it was Terramorg.”

“T-Terramorg?!” Lohengrin was shocked. He was stupefied because the ancient monster—Terramorg—appeared around four hundred fifty years ago and destroyed half of Elondel.

“That’s impossible! Terramorg was vanquished four hundred fifty years ago!”

“Huh?”

“Terramorg was defeated four hundred fifty years ago together with our kingdom’s forces and that human hero…”

“Excuse me, but…” Siegfried muttered before glancing at Gringore.

Scratch! Scratch! Scratch!

Gringore immediately drew something and gave it to Siegfried.

“Did the human hero look something like this esteemed person?” he asked.

“Heok! H-he’s…!”

“The human hero was this esteemed person, right?”

“Y-Yes! He’s the human hero who saved our kingdom! How do you know him? I’m certain that humans can’t live as long as us elves…! Are you perhaps the hero’s descendant…?”

The Elven King presumed that Siegfried was the hero’s descendant, but that wasn’t the case at all.

“This esteemed person is my master.”

“M-Master?!”

“Yes.”

“H-How?!”

“My master is still alive and well.”

“…!”

“And he has become even stronger than before…”

“Oh my god!”

Lohengrin was shocked to hear that the human hero who had saved the Elven Kingdom four hundred fifty years ago was still alive. Even more astonishing was that the hero’s disciple had come to visit Elondel, and his disciple turned out to be the King of Proatine, who had established numerous laws to foster good relationships with the elves!

Ding!

A system prompt appeared in front of Siegfried.

[Alert: The affinity of Lohengrin has increased by 9,999,999!]

[Alert: Lohengrin’s opinion of you has reached Unshakeable Trust and Respect!]

Siegfried was extremely confused.

***

Meanwhile, at the Kingdom of the Dark Elves, Niflheim.

“My daughter…!”

The King of the Dark Elves, Credos, felt his heart drop after seeing his daughter’s condition. Menacia’s wounds seemed quite grave. Her wounds were numerous and deep, and even the best healers of Niflheim couldn’t restore her chest. In other words, Menacia had to cut off an important part of her as a woman—her breast—to survive.

“Argh…! W-Who did this?! Who did this to my beloved daughter?!” Credor roared.

“T-That bitch… did this to me…” Menacia growled like a wounded beast.

“That bitch? Are you talking about that ugly elf, Brunhilde?”

“That ugly bitch and her pimp did this to me…!”

“Those bastards…! How dare they!”

“Revenge… I want revenge…!”

“All right, my daughter! Your father will avenge you, so don’t worry and rest. Focus on recovering for now!”

“Revenge…” Menacia muttered incessantly.

“Those damned elves! They dare bring a human to our sacred forest and hurt my daughter?! I will not let this slide! Never!” Credor roared. He quivered visibly in fury.

***

“So you’re saying that the hero personally mentioned the Terramorg?” Lohengrin asked.

“Yes,” Siegfried replied with a nod.

“That’s quite strange… The hero personally killed the Terramorg, and he even butchered its remains to harvest materials from it… Why would he think that the Terramorg has come back to life?” Lohengrin asked, seemingly finding it difficult to believe Siegfried’s words.

“I have no idea. My master didn’t tell me the details. He simply told me to go to Elondel and kill the ancient monster…” Siegfried replied, looking quite perplexed as well.

“Hmm… That is indeed strange… very strange…” Lohengrin muttered.

However, there was a backstory to this that even the elven king was unaware of.

***

Four hundred fifty years ago, Deus killed the Terramorg and harvested its bones, hide, blood, heart, core, horns, and whatever else of value. However, a thought suddenly came to his mind, which made him go underground.

‘This guy’s a high-ranking monster, so it should have quite the valuable stuff in its lair, right?’

Deus did not stop at simply killing the Terramorg; he even went to ransack its lair.

However, what greeted him at the ancient monster’s lair was not a mountain of gold or treasures. After all, the Terramorg was not an intelligent creature like the dragons, so it wasn’t materialistic.

“Grruk… Grruk…!”

Deus found the Terramorg’s offspring.

“Huh? It had an offspring?”

“Grruuuk!”

“Hey, don’t bare your fangs at me if you value your life. I can easily snap your neck like a twig.”

“…”

“That’s it. Good choice.”

The young Terramorg instinctively knew that Deus was dangerous and immediately curled up into a ball.

“Hmm… What should I do with this punk? Should I just kill it now? I mean, I have to uproot the weeds to stop it from growing back, but…” Deus contemplated while looking at the young monster.

Killing it was the correct choice since the young monster was bound to become an adult monster in a few centuries, and the fully-grown Terramorg would definitely terrorize Elondel once again.

Seuk…

Deus raised his hand to eliminate the young monster.

“Wait a minute… Should I just let it live? I mean, I won’t really benefit from it if I kill it right now.” He suddenly realized that it was a waste to kill the young ancient monster. It wasn’t strange that he wouldn’t benefit from killing the young monster. After all, how much could he harvest from such a young monster?

“Yeah, I might need you later, so I’ll spare you for now. Who knows, I might have a disciple down the road, and I will need you by then.” Deus decided to spare the young monster.

In addition, he was already experiencing changes in his body after consuming the Terramorg’s core.

“Hey.”

“…?”

“You’re my lunch box from now on.”

“Grruk…?”

“You’re my emergency food, got it?”

“Ggruuk…!” The young monster couldn’t understand what Deus was saying, but it frivolously nodded for the sake of its survival.

“Hoho! Is this what they call free-range livestock? I don’t have to manage it since it will grow by itself! As expected, organic is truly the way to go! Kekeke!”

Deus decided to save the young Terramorg for the future, and the young monster had no idea it was being grown like livestock to be consumed in the distant future.

Of course, that was the final encounter the young monster had with Deus.

***

“A Terramorg in our lands is indeed dire news…” Lohengrin said while looking full of anxiety.

Of course, he had no idea about the backstory that took place four hundred fifty years ago.

“A calamity will fall upon Elondel once again if a Terramorg really exists in our lands…”

“I will try and look for it,” Siegfried volunteered.

“Oh! Will you really do that for us?”

“Yes, I came here to carry out my master’s command, which was to kill the Terramorg.”

“That is splendid! You are the hero’s disciple, so Elondel will surely be safe from calamity!”

“I will do my best.”

“All right, I will spare nothing to support you. You may take my daughter Brunhilde and her squadron with you.”

“Thank you very much.”

“But before that, why don’t you take a look around our beautiful city? And…” Lohengrin suddenly stopped halfway. Then, he lowered his voice and whispered, “Can we speak in private before you leave?”

“Hmm? What is it about?” Siegfried asked in response.

“Ahem! I have something to tell you, but I believe that conversation will be better suited in private…”

“I understand,” Siegfried agreed.

He had no idea what the elven king wanted to talk about with him, but he couldn’t really decline it, as it was a request from the king of the elves.

“Come, let’s go somewhere private.”

“Yes, King Lohengrin.”

Lohengrin guided Siegfried to a beautiful pavilion located deep inside the castle.

“What did you want to discuss with me?” Siegfried asked.

“That’s…” Lohengrin muttered. He looked around before asking, “Would you take my daughter’s hand in marriage?”

“WHAT?! M-Marriage?!” Siegfried screamed, and his eyes shot wide open.

Lohengrin grabbed his hands and exclaimed, “I beg of you! Please take my daughter!”